The accounts checklist
Eight checks, in order, with the document to request at each step. Enough to review a financial year in half a day without being an accountant — and to reach the meeting with precise questions rather than a vague unease.
Scrutinising the accounts is not optional
Scrutinising the agent’s management is one of the two duties the law gives the condo board. It is not about redoing the bookkeeping, but about reconciling what was voted with what was spent, and asking for evidence behind the gaps.
Supporting documents for the charges may be inspected by any co-owner between the notice going out and the meeting. The board itself may inspect any document relating to management, at any point in the year.
What you are entitled to
- The five accounting annexes, attached to the notice.
- Invoices for any line whose detail you ask for.
- Statements of the association’s separate bank account.
- The arrears position, co-owner by co-owner.
A refusal to hand over a document should be recorded in writing and entered in the minutes: that is what will carry weight when the agent’s contract comes up for renewal.
Word template
Accounts scrutiny — financial year [dates]
Co-ownership [name] — review carried out on [date] by [board members]
Work through the eight points in order: each builds on the one before. Against each line, note what you checked, which document you obtained, and what still has to be requested from the agent.
1. Are the annexes complete?
The five accounting annexes must accompany the notice. Without them, no informed vote on the accounts is possible.
Document to obtain: annexes 1 to 5 for the year
2. Actuals against the voted budget
Line by line, the gap between what the meeting voted and what was spent. Stop at any variance above 10 %.
Document to obtain: budget vs actuals comparison
3. Two financial years side by side
An isolated gap explains itself. A trend across two years calls for a written answer from the agent.
Document to obtain: previous year’s annexes
4. Evidence behind the variances
For every line that moves, ask for the invoices. A line that cannot be evidenced does not explain itself.
Document to obtain: invoices for the flagged lines
5. The separate bank account
The association’s funds must sit in an account opened in its name. Check the closing balance and any unusual movements.
Document to obtain: separate account statements
6. The works fund
Contribution actually called, balance of the dedicated account, and consistency with the year’s legal minimum.
Document to obtain: works fund account statement
7. Arrears
Total amount, number of co-owners concerned, age of the debts and proceedings started.
Document to obtain: named arrears schedule
8. Contracts and their tendering
Contracts rolled over with no competing quote above the threshold voted by the meeting: this is the line that weighs most on service charges.
Document to obtain: current contracts and competing quotes
Note what you could not verify as well. A question left unanswered, written down plainly, is worth more than a review presented as complete.
Get the template by email
One email address and the document is yours. The download opens right below.
Checking once a year assumes you noted things all year
Scrutiny almost always trips on the same thing: working out, eight months later, which quote was accepted and why. CoproHarmony keeps quotes, incidents and exchanges dated, so the review rests on facts rather than recollections.
File as you go
Quotes, invoices and exchanges attached to the incident or works that caused them.
Compare without hunting
Every expense keeps its date, its amount and its attachment.
Present at the meeting
The review rests on a timeline, not on an impression.
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